Sunday Morning First Service | I Am #4 Mother's Day | Pastor Dennis Pitts

You ever felt like you're just running on empty? You you you don't have enough strength? You don't have enough wisdom. I've known a lot of times, man, I need wisdom to know how to answer this. Not you don't have enough resources. Whatever that may be. If that's you, you're you're gonna relate to this guy and we talked a little bit about the story a few weeks ago. Pastor Rob mentioned it and talked about it. We're gonna go just a little bit further. In Genesis seventeen one, when Abram was 99 years old, the lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am almighty god. Walk before me and be blameless. [01:29:46] (43 seconds)  #RunningOnEmpty

There's that like I said, there's no no greater statement than I am in who god is, his character. No matter how lost or worry or insufficient you feel today, he is the great I am. The children of Israel had been in slavery for long, many hundreds of years, and he was still the god that could set them free no matter what Egypt did, no matter how powerful Egypt seemed to be in that time and in that place. The great I am is your shepherd who leads you and is always more than enough. [01:02:21] (33 seconds)  #GreatIAm

what I'm getting at here is the god that in the beginning said, let there be light and light happen. Was the same god that spoke to Abraham and he had a child when he's well past the impossibility was happening. It was the same god that spoke to Moses when the bush wouldn't burn up. The god almighty, El Shaddai, was the same god that revealed himself to me out in the middle of that field that, Dennis, you're you're small, but I'm large. Same guy that the night I got saved, I found out how good god was. I couldn't I couldn't fight against his goodness. Same god. And that's the same god that heal my mom. And that's the same god that's here today. [01:40:42] (56 seconds)  #SameGodSamePower

Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. And Jesus already laid down his life for us at the cross for salvation. But in that, there's so much more included in the cross. And I I know I've been it was a healing conference one night that came to me. The benefits. You know, years ago, I I worked on farm. We didn't have benefits. We didn't have health insurance. We didn't have retirement. And I got a job that had four zero one k and had health insurance and paid some of that. Those benefits through the cross, we have the benefits. Benefits of god. [01:24:43] (41 seconds)  #GoodShepherdBenefits

His staff comforts and guides us gently and purposefully, and I think of both of these as as a as a an analogy of the word of god. The word of god corrects us. It's good for correction. It's good for for admonishing for encouragement. Sometimes we need correcting. Sometimes the the mirror of the word, we we don't see Jesus. We see a little too much of us. We we need correction. In in aviation, they would call that course correction. You get off. You get off a little bit here. By the time you get wherever you're going, you may be way off, and there'll be a problem. The staff gently corrects us. The rod is is more of a correction, but but not in punishment. [01:22:53] (44 seconds)  #WordAsGuide

And he walks with us in the darkest valleys. I found this to be true. Even in the very darkest time of grief, I found that God is with me, and he's able to pick me up and carry me if I need to be carried and to bring others to to the aid that we help each other, the God in us coming out to lead and help us as we go through these times. Your shepherd, Jehovah Rohi, is right there with you. In verse five of this, this Psalm, it even says that David is speaking to the lord and he says, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. [01:17:49] (46 seconds)  #GodWithUsInGrief

From the confusion and the noise that can happen in your life, the noise and confusion in your head and in your mind where the where the battle is, it's up here. Sometimes we we don't know what to do and then there's no answer. We have to know who the answer is, not what the answer is, but who the answer is, and that's Jesus. He is the answer. He restores my soul when I'm weary, when life drains you. Life when life is will drain your peace, it'll drain your strength. He restores our soul. Life drains you emotionally, spiritually, and physically. [01:16:37] (39 seconds)  #JesusIsTheAnswer

In the chaos and the noise of life, he knows how to bring you to still waters and a place where you can lay down and rest. And we don't worry about the predators. The you know why the shepherd doesn't lay down and go to sleep and take a nap? The shepherd's always watching around the around the flock. He's to protect you and make sure that you get rest and peace. First Corinthians fourteen thirty three, Paul said, for God is not a God of confusion or chaos, but a peace. Now Paul's speaking here to to to the church about order in in the services, but but he also wants us to have peace in our daily lives. [01:15:28] (46 seconds)  #StillWatersPeace

Sometimes our our time through situations, circumstances in life is long, and and it gets rocky sometimes. Amen? Gets real rocky sometimes. And we might get anxious and thirsty, thirsty for just just some relief from the journey. Then your shepherd finds you a lush pasture. If you will just picture a minute, the greenest grass you've ever seen where it just looks like it's almost full of moisture ready to just spread out water. Find you some still quiet water where he's he's gonna let you drink, and you're not afraid of this water. It's still. It's quiet. It's pure. [01:11:37] (44 seconds)  #LushPastureRest

even the valley of the shadow of death, he's still with us. He stays right beside us during these times. And we we may feel that God is distant. He's even closer. You wouldn't be able to tell the distance between you. He's in us, and he works through us. He stays right beside us, and you and and his rod and staff says they protect and comfort you. And that's a picture of Jehovah Rohi, the lord my shepherd. In Hebrew, Jehovah means our covenant god. Who's our covenant god? Jesus. His blood sealed the covenant and made that we could made it so we could have relationship with the father god again. [01:12:56] (47 seconds)  #ShepherdWithUs

God was able to blind all of God is more as we are more than they. That's the moral of that. Just remember when you feel like you're outnumbered, god's god's army is more than they, and he's with us. And that means that the facts and circumstances can change. The fact was the army was out there and they were gonna take out they were gonna take out Elisha and his servant. I think just imagine a horrible death by this army or maybe being take back taken back to the king and tortured. Circumstances changed. Facts changed. I'm going through some things now that that facts were one thing, but god is showing me that they've changed and and that he has his power is greater than the facts of man of this world. [01:36:35] (52 seconds)  #OutnumberedButVictorious

But god is so huge and and and so deep and so good that one name cannot just fully describe our god. So I'm thankful thankful for a god that is that powerful and that big. But, we're letting this week, we're letting god finish the sentence with powerful names that reveal things about him, his character, and it's all through scripture. In week one, we learned that the great I am sees us, Elroy, and provides for us, Jehovah Jireh. I'm glad god sees me, and he saw me before I followed him. [00:59:17] (35 seconds)  #NamesOfGodSeries

The great I am is your shepherd who leads you and is always more than enough. And that's the main idea. The great I am is your personal shepherd who leads you and is more than enough for every need we have. And as we grow and trust and and gain confidence in him, we realize this more and more that he is the almighty god, the shepherd. Number one, not in the first name we're gonna talk about Jehovah Rohi. I know it's spelled the same as Roy, but it's different. [01:02:49] (29 seconds)  #MoreThanEnoughShepherd

It looked impossible. I'm learning more and more. The more I grow in in in the relationship with my god, I see impossibility altogether differently. That word is becoming dimmer and dimmer in my life. With god, all things are possible. But in in that moment of impossibility, god introduced himself to Abram as El Shaddai, almighty god. The meaning in Hebrew, El is god. Shaddai is almighty, all sufficient, mountain one. God who is more than enough. That all boils down to the God who is more than enough. Now here's what El Shaddai means to your life right now as well we talked about Jehovah Rohi. [01:31:25] (50 seconds)  #ElShaddaiAlmighty

Now imagine yourself as one of those sheep. Shepherds taking you. You know, we met up at town, mingled in the herd, and we all went our own way. We're following our shepherd, and and you're getting tired because this he's wherever he's taking you, it's not real close. You've been walking for a while, and you haven't even stopped for a break. You're tired from the journey. You may you don't understand the journey. This is this is too long. We're I don't know where we're going. The path has been rocky. You've just got rocky terrain. No grass is gonna grow in the rocks. Right? [01:10:52] (37 seconds)  #FollowTheShepherd

And he thought, well, this is gonna be good. How's it gonna separate these sheep? How's it gonna know whose sheep is white? Because they're not branded. They don't have the ear tag. These are these are just sheep. They don't they don't do that. They couldn't afford to do that in this small town. Shepherds got through talking, and they took off in different directions. And the sheep, that whole big herd started going out, and they just filtered out and went on after their shepherd. They didn't worry about did they have all their sheep. They knew they were gonna follow them. Sheep knew their voice. [01:08:54] (32 seconds)  #SheepKnowHisVoice

And one day, I was all alone in a 40 acre field, and there was hundreds of acres around me. Different people own land and rented land, and the the only first trees were were miles across there. And behind me, there was a pasture at one end of the field, and there wasn't even any cows in that pasture, and it was very big too. And I began to feel that insignificance of me on this little tractor plying up dirt. We call ourselves dirt farmers because we till the dirt and plant prepared the seed bed, planted the seed in there and harvested from the dirt. I began to feel how insignificant I was. I was feeling pretty small. [01:28:06] (41 seconds)  #FeelingInsignificant

Then I thought I knew enough to know there was an you know, the the earth and then that god had created it. I'd heard about that. Then there was the atmosphere and then, you know, the solar system, the galaxy, and the universe, and I I I about had to stop tractor and get off because I didn't understand. Didn't have anybody that I think I can answer. You know, I thought I could ask a question to explain it to me what I was feeling. Have you ever felt like you're not enough or or small in this whole big world in the universe? I felt like I was not enough many times raising children. [01:28:47] (35 seconds)  #CosmicPerspective

I found that in many areas in life, was lacking. At that certain ages, I felt like I was lacking. Like, when I was on a tractor 11 or 12, I can't remember. By nine, we could drive tractors. Okay? That was just how it was. We were like a little house on the prairie with with engine powered tractors instead of mules and plows. I remember especially one time, we had this circumstance that happened. And and how many of you know facts and circumstances? I'm learning more about this every day. They change. They can change. They're apt to change. They will change. [01:32:17] (41 seconds)  #FactsCanChange

Facts, you still think our heart set. This is a fact. There's there's only one thing that's hard set, and that's the word of God, and that is God. Facts and circumstances can change. God's truth, his word will never change. In Malachi three six, he said, for I am the Lord, I do not change. Elisha, that was in second Kings six. You've talked about second Kings earlier. There was a a army that was looking for the king of Israel. They were they're take him out, And he said, where is the king of Israel? He's talking to his his people and his spies and everything. He said, well, nobody's gonna find him because he's got a guy that knows what's going on even in your bed chamber. He knows what's going on in the words you speak in private. [01:32:58] (51 seconds)  #UnchangingWord